#comes to show kishimoto incapability to write

[sasubaeuchithot]

what do you think about sakura? i've always been very conflicted or even indifferent to her. i feel like i've either wanted to really like her, but she falls short on every expectation, or i've wanted to really hate her, but she's too bland even for that. i've seen one half of the fandom raise her on a pedestal that i feel she doesn't deserve and the other make her absolute rubbish and that you're supposed to loathe with all your heart.

when it comes to naruto and sasuke, i do think both of them have love for sakura (even sasuke, even though it seems almost blasphemy to say this out loud), as both of them have love as their core characteristic, especially sasuke. i think sakura loves them both too, but i also think she's shallow in her feelings but is capable of reflecting on them. but i also think, often giggling to myself, that she's a smelly sweaty nervous girl when it comes to sasuke and it takes time to grow out of it.

all in all i think people in this fandom often seem to forget nuance and context when talking about her.

i enjoy you writing her, because she has dimension and she's capable of self reflection, but you don't put her on a pedestal.

sorry for the rant, i need other things to think about than my life right now. hope you're doing good and beating your writer's block with a stick!

sakura is very complicated for me. as a character, she enrages me- but not because of her actual personality. it's important when watching any form of fictional media to remember that these are characters, characters who were created by a real person to try to tell a story. all of her unlikable flaws for me all stem from the fact that she was created specifically for the male characters around her. even as early as her character introduction, which was the first plot device we are ever given to paint the rivalry between naruto and sasuke; we are introduced to sakura by naruto proclaiming he has a crush on her, only to see her brush him off and shallowly fangirl over sasuke. this continues throughout the entirety of the story in ways you don't necessarily notice at first, but become glaringly obvious the more you understand the misogyny in kishimoto's writing.

in the beginning of the land of waves arc, kakashi has all three students practicing tree climbing. Sakura, we see, excels at this. this seems great for a female character, right??? look, she's better than her two male teammates!! except that when you take into account that that is basically the one of the like. two times in the entire story we ever see her do better than either Sasuke or Naruto. this moment does more than just fall short due to never being supported again in the narrative once you realize that in actuality, kishimoto wrote her to have excelled so well at controlling her chakra because he wanted to write her out of the scene. that is literally the only reason he wrote her being adept in that moment. he needed naruto and sasuke to bond over training, and he didn't want sakura to be a part of the sentiment. narratively in his mind, she couldn't be! her entire existence was about the OPPOSITE; she was created to show the divide between the other two, so she can't be there to assist in showing their bond.

this is also where the concept of "Sakura is useless" comes from. her character was not created to showcase the world building of ninjutsu, nor was she meant to be the one saving the day. kakashi's character was about worldbuilding; he is the teacher-character who dialog dumps all of the information about how this ninja world operates. and at the beginning, saving the day was largely sasuke's job- to display the incapabilities and shortcomings of naruto- and then that moved onto Naruto's job- to show how far the protagonist has worked and to push the story forward. sakura's purpose of being the representation of how sasuke is Wanted and naruto is Unwanted does not fit in battle, so she is sidelined. for the entire first part of the story, she doesn't even have a jutsu she specializes in!!!! in a show about ninjas!!!!!!!! she is never allowed to display her own adeptness, because it would get in the way of her male counterparts' story. and then in an effort to keep her character relevant later on (and to placate fans I'm sure), kishimoto decides to make her. a fucking medic. a caregiver.

the misogyny of it angers me. she's the main female in your story, and her sole purpose is to support male characters both within the narrative and on the paper. but if i choose to watch/read the story as most other viewers do, devoid of my knowledge of writing fiction, I start to like her come Shippuden. i love the balance she has between her strength and her feminity. i love loud, determined women who show their gentleness selectively. i love her "headstrong combined with arm strong" (I'm quoting myself lmaoooo). but i despise how ALL of that disappears around Sasuke. it's so hard to focus on what I do like about her when kishi takes every opportunity he can to display the fact that she is very much Written By A Man™.

one super frustrating challenge that i had was the fact that I had to start out sakura's character in my own fanfiction complying with these awful character traits for her. my goal of kizuna hikari was to have everyone as canonically in-character as possible- which includes inheriting sakura's misogynistic character purpose. but i refused to keep her that way. so her character arc for me was shedding off her male-centric character traits. it took the whole fucking fic to undo kishi's work lmaoooo. i had to really gnaw away at her dependency on Sasuke, which involved keeping her narrative unfortunately still centered around him. but now i feel like now I'll actually be able to write her as her OWN character for the sequel, thank fucking god.

what you said about Naruto and Sasuke loving her is so true, and I see it the same way. their core character traits are both about loving deeply and intensely, so it's difficult for me to see either of them NOT caring about her. Sasuke at his heart is gentle and kind, rude as he can outwardly be. he naturally craves love. Sakura for sure is delusional, and a lot of her infatuation with Sasuke is rose-tinted, but I don't think ALL of it is. she does care for and love Sasuke- she's just lost in her own fantasy with it.

i really enjoyed writing her finally coming to terms with her delusions, realizing what parts of Sasuke she had been glamorizing and finally seeing him for himself. from where I've left off with her at the end of the povs, she did not fall out of love with him even though she came to terms with sasuke and naruto's relationship, which tells me that I think that she does harbor real love for him in canon. i can't wait to expand on her in the sequel and see how that develops.

[regalia-of-wisdom]

The ecchi food show writes better than Naruto

Currently on twitter there’s been a discussion going around regarding fandom spaces and the original media and how often fans are either willing to defend female characters or to ignore them, specially when compared to male characters, etc. So I was going to write a thread but I ended up writing, like, a big ass essay on Food Wars and Naruto, of all mangas. Needless to say it got too big to be uploaded to twitter, so to tumblr it goes! Let’s get to it!

So when I was watching Shokugeki no Soma (I know I know, epitome of feminism, ultimate media for activism, Nobel peace prize worthy etc.) I remember being comfortable enough in the writing to actively dislike a female character. This isn’t true anymore btw, upon rewatches + future plot I think she’s wonderful now. But something I focused on, often, back then was the particular way in which I tended to phrase that to myself: “feeling comfortable to dislike a girl”. This wasn’t something I tended to do. Even when I found certain tropes or characteristics annoying, I always felt like I needed to like and defend the girl characters, bc if I didn’t then no one else in the fandom spaces I went to would have.

So what did it mean to “be comfortable”? I think it meant feeling like the author wasn’t making their female character fight uphill battles in terms of likeability and relatability. Everyone knows that Kishimoto doesn’t know how to write women, and the one or two chances where he does it feels like luck. That means that it’s E A S Y to ignore anything he writes when it comes to his female characters and their flaws, because these wouldn’t be applied to the guys. They were fighting uphill battles, it was unfair. If all the girls are shallow and boy crazy and incapable of fighting for themselves, then that wasn’t a flaw that I had to personally assess, that was a set of comfortable tropes that Kishimoto didn’t care to fix or explore and therefore the character as it was written was not complete. To judge them as I would with Kishi’s male characters would have been unfair.

In Food Wars, I never had this vibe (do wanna point out that I never finished the manga or the anime, so if the writing in terms of the girls’ arcs specifically goes downhill, I’m not talking about that LMAO). It was incredibly refreshing to see girls with a variety of personalities AND flaws, in a way that made it clear that I could just honestly Judge them based on their own merits. What about their personalities worked for me, personally? How do they handle obstacles? How do they react to the plot??? The answer wasn’t the same for every single girl. They all had different priorities! It was mind blowing, and this came from a fucking. Ecchi manga where everyone keeps getting naked everytime they eat food. The artist literally drew hentai sjdkdkdlld.

They even made me change my mind on the character I disliked, by the way, after she went through her character arc. Her role in the story changed, and I had a new view of her. All was right with the world. I loved them all again! And this time it was because the authors knew what they were doing, and not out of spite! What the fuck!? THE ECCHI FOOD MANGA??

How can THESE people make me feel like I knew how to read characters, while others didn’t? Rather, why did I feel like I NEEDED to force my brain to see the way characters are treated differently in other media? There’s something so gross about the way that other fans close their eyes away from the faults of their favorite authors. I can’t stand Naruto fans that don’t want to admit Kishimoto’s fatal flaw. I don’t assign misogyny to authors because I don’t fucking know them, but Kishi’s writing was misogynist. Food Wars might be objectifying (and I do think that people downplay how often girls, specifically, tend to get naked more often. I know guys get naked too and it’s a whole “equality” thing but I know what I’m talking about when I say that. The ratio isn’t actually equal and ALSO It’s Shonen jump, many of the girls are teenagers and yet their boobs are huge. This is something else tho, I’m actually praising the character writing lmao.) but it’s purpose wasn’t to demean the impact of girls as both an audience and a subject matter, at least in terms of story telling. Naruto was way too toxic for its girls, despite having minimal fanservice when compared to the foodgasm manga.

But, like, more importantly, the fandom footprint of Food Wars just doesn’t compare to Naruto. Food Wars was big for like 3 seasons and then I never heard from it again, but Naruto is known by every fucker on the market. Everyone knows who Sakura is, and everyone feels comfortable insulting her and shitting on her character choices, as if she was a real human being and not the product of some dude’s head. It is IMPERATIVE that I understand what Sakura COULD be and focus on that, because otherwise endorsing the kind of environment that feels comfortable insulting girls that don’t act correctly just ends up causing trouble all around, when the shitty ass male characters get so much nuanced writing thrown at them by comparison.

I refuse to accept understanding men as being more “natural” than understanding women, that just isn’t fucking true, and allowing it to continue could lead to genuine misogyny towards REAL people. I actually do know people in real life that refuse to understand why women would stay in abusive relationships, or why they apologize so often, etc. And these opinions are equally reflected in how they view certain characters in media. More often than not, understanding why men would damage themselves became more second nature than understanding why women would act “foolishly”.

I don’t think media consumption and literacy are actually, like, the be all end all in terms of the betterment of society or whatever, but at the very least I think endorsing an environment where we can stop accidentally insulting one another by no longer putting in some fucking filter over whether or not we care about certain characters is worthwhile. Sakura isn’t real but other girls are, and treating her like ass because she couldn’t finish her power up arc isn’t a hot take that does anything for anyone.

[yourdesertsunflower]

Neji is Alive

A recapitulation of the construction of the best and most climatic moment in all of Naruto. That moment. Obviously a one hundred-percent real, not at all fake build up to the one moment every Naruto Fan was waiting for. Truer than true, best of the best. More canon than NaruRamen, here it is my recapitulation of that moment. 

Seeing there is no further need to stretch the presentation and, without further ado, let’s get into it...

But before: DISCLAIMER! Please don’t take it personal. I am not that idiot to belive I could do a better manga than Kishimoto. All my respects to him and all of those who think differently. I am just a gen z scribbling nonsense about 2D characters so, yes, I am lame. (believe it!)

After the Neji vs Hinata fight the heiress of the Hyuga’s has a moment of self-reflection about herself and her identity as a part of the most fucked-up clan of Konoha. She had always been subject and victim of the clan’s structure and deemed as unable of fulfilling the roles that she was destined to fill up as a member of the primary branch. 

She also understood that it was Neji, her cousin, who had it the worst when it comes to the configuration of the clan and, seeing how much it affected both of them and to limits they were able to reach she can’t hold it back any longer.

She finally is able to voice and externalize all those thought and now there is no turning back. She can’t turn a blind eye on the situation. She can’t longer see herself as the victim, nor wants to be seen as someone weak cause she knows the power she has given she is from the primary branch and is willing to capitalize that privilege in order to turn things around. 

Motivated by Naruto’s Ninja way “never run away or give up on your word” she decides that she’ll work as hard as she is able to be a competent leader of the Hyuga Clan and convince people of a change.

However, she knows she can’t do it alone. Despite being born from the primary branch her softness and passiveness had always been an impediment to be a great shinobi. Even though she was, on paper, supposed to be a great kunoichi she had never been one of practice. She knows she’ll need of Neji if she wants to reach her full-potential. ]

Before the finals of the Chunin Exams she tries to talk o him in order to ask for him to train her but obviously Neji, being the bitchy genius he was at the time, doesn’t even listen to her. For obvious reasons, he doesn’t want to know anything of her. 

However, this doesn’t demotivate Hinata. If she couldn’t convince Neji through words she’ll have to do it by her actions, after all that was people like Naruto did,  so she starts training by herself. 

After his match against Naruto and his talk with Hiashi, Neji sees Hinata training and offers her some help. Obviously Hinata accepts it and they start creating their cousin bond. They both quickly realize that they are both victims of the corrupted structure of the Hyuga Clan and that, if they wanted to change something, they needed each other. They would have to work together, not as member of the primary and secondary branch but as one entity, as cousins. 

Hence, their bond and care for each other is not due that it was the fricking duty and destiny of one to protect each other but because they genuinely care for each other. 

Neji trains Hinata and she becomes way stronger than anyone ever thought her capable of, to the extent than when the war breaks many of the elders of the Hyuga Clan think of her as a competent candidate to lead the clan during battle. All except her father, who still has some skeptisim about her daughter’s capability. 

However, this isn’t voice by Hiashi as Hinata declines the role saying that, she not only has a lot to learn but that Neji fits the role much better than her. After all, if he was able to help her all through this years to be the best shinobi out of her capabilities she was sure that he’ll do the same for the rest of the Clan during war. 

At war Naruto is attacked and Hinata jumps forward to protect him. However, Neji who is nearby seeing the desperation in his cousin’s eyes and fearing that she’ll do something reckless jumps in between her and Naruto protecting them both. 

He does the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and deflects all the spikes coming towards him. Or so he thinks. He can’t see it but a he is being attacked in his blind spot. Before the target reached him, Hiashi intercedes and saves Neji of an instant death. 

This wouldn’t be only Hiashi’s redemption but also a metaphorical redemption of all the Clan’s primary branch. 

As his last words he says sorry to Hinata and thanks her for having taught him as his daughter, the most important lesson he has ever receive. True strength comes from, dedication, care and love. She is the best heiress and daughter the Hyuga Clan and he could ask for and names her the head of the Hyuga Clan.

As his last action he asks Neji to come nearer him and removes him from the curse seal. However Neji says he’ll always be there for Hinata, cause it isn’t the seal that bound them together but their bond as cousins. 

Here Hinata would display her growth as character. She isn’t the shy little girl she once was but a fully capable woman that is capable to lead due to her emotional intelligence. Yes, she is sensible and caring but that are the traits that allow her to be the leader her clan is in need. Someone that can understand and be sensible to the emotions but that also has the strength to keep on moving foward. 

This would also he Naruto’s ‘aha’ moment. She had said to him during Pain’s Attack to Konoha that she looked up to him but he has never been able to see her in those eyes till know. Even when heartbroken she has the strength to keep on moving, knowing that is what the others need of her. It was truly admirable. But, hadn’t she always been like that? Hinata was always one of those people to put others needs before her, to be there for him whenever she needed. Obviously, she had grown into someone more capable and confident of herself but the core is still the same. She was always the one. 

It’s now him who is looking up to her. After all, she had been able to stay true to their share ninja way. She had never ran away of gave up on her word and had done it all holding on to that core values that made her, her. But he isn’t about to be left behind. He wanted to walk alongside her, in their ninja way. 

After the war, when things are finally settling down Hinata questions herself if she’ll be able to fit the shoes of the Clan’s Leader and tells Neji that she thinks the he or Hanabi would be much better options for the role. However, Neji gives her his full support and ensures her that he’ll be there to help her as his right hand, not because there is a tradition that say that should be so but because he truly believes in her and is eager to be part of this new era for the Clan. 

They finally are able to ban the Hyuga’s Curse Seal. It is removed from all members of the second branch and it is strictly prohibited to be placed upon new borns. 

Neji takes the role of Jonin Commander of Konoha and, some years after the war marries Tenten with whom he has a son/daughter named Ren. This name, besides being unisex, means lotus which symbolizes purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth (obvious metaphor and a little nod to Hizashi). They are the first child of the second branch no to never be sealed. 

Neji lives a long-lasting life as a proud father, beloved husband, supportive cousin, dear friend and trusted leader. 

The End. 

Okay, so if you reached this point and you are like, I had already seen this post (?) let me explain. I edited a tag of this post in my phone and it went completely blank. So yeah. I got to do it all over again cause obviously I got no back-up. Shit. F for me. But hope you enjoyed it. Kudos!

[i-got-that-fandom-kinda-love]

A to Z favourite TV show challenge! Or # to Z?

# - 30 Rock (Liz Lemmon! This is just all kinds of hilarity).

A - Ally McBeal (there's not enough of this on Tumblr btw. I loved it before I understood it - my brother watched and I followed. And then I watched again and I loved it more) / Arrow (so years ago I started watching this because of Tumblr. You guys were obsessed with Olicity and I was too even though I hadn't watched the show. So I watched it. Thank you for ruining my life btw) / Accidentally in Love (Asian Series, sup, @netflix - thanks for getting me addicted to Asian series - I liked them before but now it's just there and begging to be watched AND I CAN'T HELP MYSELF - YOU'VE ADDICTED MY MOTHER TOO).

B - Brooklyn Nine Nine (best thing to happen to me, thank you Tumblr - the nine nine fandom. Also started it a couple years ago and fell in love hard. This show makes me laugh no matter what and it's pure and I love it so much. It's really a show I needed because when I watch series I get really emotionally involved and certain shows leave me so stressed that I have to take a break and all I can watch is comedies for a few weeks. Or months. Depends on how big my heart break was. B99 always makes me laugh and feel lighter). / Buffy the Vampire Slayer (another one from my childhood, you know when you're too young to really understand but old enough to remember it? So yeah, my brother got me hooked at a young age and the addiction stuck. Because I've never been able to forget Buffy. And I've recently been rewatching it with my mother - she too is a bit addicted).

C - Charmed (Original series, not reboot - I haven't even watched the reboot. But yes, Charmed. I remember being up til 10PM on a Monday while I was in primary (middle) school just to watch it. Halliwell sisters are another drug I never could kick - Leo was one of my first ever crushes - my very first crush was Shahrukh Khan and if we're ever talking Bollywood movies he'll be all over that post).

D - Doctor Who (Okay! I only started watching from season 5, again cos NETFLIX - the Doctor and Amy Pond - man, just lock me up in the TARDIS and take me away already. ALSO one of the series that broke my heart enough that rendered me incapable of watching any other series except comedy).

E - Ek Hazaroon Mein Meri Behna Hai (Hindi series; my sister is one in a thousand - I assume it's the name because that sounds better in Hindi than one in a million or billion. There's something about Hindi series that sucks you in and tortures you until you're on the brick of exploding from suspense - the build up is both infuriating and renders you unable to tear your eyes away).

F - Friends ('Cause it's been there for me and how can I not? Again, childhood. Also. Heroes get remembered but legends never die. And I've watched every episode like a gazillion times and laugh just the same - I think even more 'cause I know what's gonna happen. I'm one of those people). / Fairy Tail (Anime. Magic. Friendship. Friendship. Friendship. It's one of those rare shows that has a lot of characters and manages to make you love each one of them. I found it after high school but I love it to bits).

G - Gilmore Girls (I remember the first time I watched this as a kid, Rory and Lorelei were sitting at Luke's diner and chatting about something and I though they were sisters. I was at my cousin's house and I just couldn't stop watching them. Loved it ever since. And it's strange how a randomly watching TV can just change your life - 'cause you know, I obsess) / Gossip Girl (at first, I'd watched it because Kristen Bell was the voice of Gossip Girl. And I needed anything related to anything Veronica Mars. And then I naturally loved it like everybody else. Also disappointed at who GG really was. So yeah.)

H - How I Met Your Mother (At first I really, really loved it, now though it's not so high on my favourite list but it does still make me laugh - cos Barney. The final episode was so disappointing). / Hannah Montana (because if I was 13 or 16 this would have made the list. And I still love the show. My heart swells everytime my bestie sings True Friend to me. I still love Hannah Montana music okay).

I - iZombie (Rob Thomas. He's the reason I tried it out. Liv is the reason I stayed. Also Ravi. And also Major. Okay, dude, characters and plot is right on point) / Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon (Hindi series; what name do I give to this love? Its unnecessarily complicated but gosh those complications kept me on edge, staring at the screen, waiting for those idiots to realise the truth. Opposites attract. Hate to love to hate to love. They did it so well).

J - Joan of Arcadia (okay so I remember really loving this when I was younger - I haven't rewatched it as an adult but I feel like I'll still love it. I mean, come on, what if God was one of us?)

K - Kim Possible (Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me? Ultimate cartoon. Hands down. Second best is The Life and Times of Juniper Lee - she's basically the cartoon Buffy - the Chosen One - though it's hereditary instead of random? And also more fun and less heartache 'cause it's a cartoon).

L - Lucifer (Man, Lucifer. You got the guy telling everyone he's the devil and they think he's talking in metaphors? It's just hilarious to me. Detective. Romance. Snark. Supernatural. Also, Hello, Adult Tom Welling - can I even describe how excited I was to see him? Smallville, man).

M - Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir (One of the few new cartoons that I watch and love. This is just so cute and the love square is just so cute and everything is just so cute. And like we need cute stuff in our lives. Frustrating cos how oblivious can one be but also why you so cute Marinette Dupain Chang and Adrian Agreste aka Ladybug and Cat Noir)/ Malcolm in the Middle (Childhood. Childhood. Childhood. I'm not the middle child but I relate).

N - Naruto (Anime. Okay, childhood yes, also teenagehood and adulthood. Guy's been with me through everything, believe it. This show just means so much to me and I'm thankful that I got to grow up with him. Thank you, Kishimoto).

O - One Day At a Time (THANK YOU, NETFLIX! This is just one of the greatest shows on right now. I love comedy. I didn't expect it to be so emotional too. But damn it gets you right in the feels. My brother claims I'm exactly like Elena and our nephew is like Alex. I honestly don't mind. Elena is badass and strong as hell.)

P - Psych (It's just awesome? It's clever, it's funny, Shawn and Gus. The dramatics in extremely serious situations will never not make grin like a mad woman. Also private investigation shows seem to a weakness of mine. ) / Parks and Recreation (okay I never thought I'd like a mockumentary kind of series but this happened and proved me wrong and I just love this show and it's characters). / Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara (Hindi Series; the pain of love is sweet and loveable. When your parents set you up with someone and you're like no way in hell and they're like okay but they you become best friends and fall in love and yeah. The name says it all, really). / Pinocchio (Asian series - one of the more complicated ones but I simply just loved these characters and actors to bits after watching it).

Q - Quantico (it's not really one of my favourites but I couldn't think of anything else and I do enjoy it. Priyanka Chopra has always been a fav since forever - Bollywood was life before I was even old enough to understand English - but it's because of this that I can understand Hindi without needing subtitles).

R - Rizzoli & Isles (who wouldn't love a show with two best friends kicking ass in the work place). / Revenge (I watched it cos I liked Emily from Everwood but the story was so intriguing and I just got addicted. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen). / Refresh Man (Asian series - officially my favourite Asian series of all time - again, thank you Netflix. Also ever since I've loved both Aaron Yan and Joanna Tseng and I'm on a mission to watch everything they've ever acted in - do you see my obsessing tenancies?).

S - Supergirl / Supernatural / Suits / Smallville (Okay! There's too many shows that start with an S. Smallville was my gateway into the superhero show - movie - comic obsession. And also I'm getting tired of commenting on everything).

T - The Good Place / The Office (US) / The Flash/ Teen Wolf (also too many with a T!)

U - Ugly Betty

V - Veronica Mars (of all time!! Man, again, random TV viewing = life changing TV show that sticks with you forever and Veronica Mars has definitely affected me way more than any other show. I couldn't get it out of my head ever since 2007! I waited for every Thursday just to watch it and naturally Thursday became my favourite day of the week - not Friday like normal scholars - nope. I think it's the way that it ended that contributed to my obsession - so much questions left unanswered and to a 12 year old girl the most important thing is of course that LoVe hadn't officially gotten back together. My mind wrote and rewrote endings and scenarios. Then I discovered fanfiction. And then I started writing. Veronica Mars made me a junkie but also helped me discover my passion. It's not just the show that makes it my #1 but the journey it's taken me on while it was on air and especially when it was off air. ALSO THE SHOW IS SIMPLY AMAZING EVEN WITHOUT ALL MY EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT - also one of the shows that I started watching and then my brother got hooked onto it).

W - What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? / Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo/ W: two worlds apart (all Asian series - OKAY, NETFLIX IS BLAMED FOR ALL OF THIS)

X - Is there anything but X-Men? I wouldn't really put the series on my favourite list but I do watch the X-Men cartoons and I have enjoyed it so imma let it be.

Y - Young Sheldon (Too smart for his own good Cooper.) / Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (Asian series - okay, this one can't be put on Netflix. It's the first Asian drama series I'd watched because of a manga that I loved).

Z - Zoey101 ('Cause there's nothing else I can think off and I enjoyed it when I was younger. I remember putting 101 after all of my usernames for everything).

So when I thought of this I thought I'd put one name for each alphabet but it didn't work out that way 'cause I obsess over everything.

I would love to get to know more about everyone's favourite shows. I'm tagging based on the Tumblr likes thing (also on my @marshmallowatheart account) and also urls I remember seeing often on the activity cos I wanted to tag as much people as possible. I'd have been cool if I could have went with the a - z for tagging but it's not working out like I wanted so next best. (Also if I didn't tag you and you wanna do it, please go for it, I'm really into this).

Anyone who wants to do this can and whoever doesn't want to it's cool! It takes time to think especially when you have to pick between things so if you want to, add as many as you like. You don't have to add comments on it if you don't want to, I just got carried away! And then got tired.

@poppy-in-the-woods @risssaar @stephaniecatlover @ihaveathingformeninwaistcoats @write-to-feel @mediocre-mee @jenilyn2000 @lalacristina18 @cainc3 @mrskissytaylor @anilcadz91 @elliebear75 @troublescout @hanitjemars @susanmichelin @cheshirecatstrut @firedragonmon

[elenathehun]

The Hyuuga Clan: what not to do

So I promised a separate post on the Hyuuga Clan plotline after I wrapped up the Chuunin Exam arc, and as promised, here it is.  It’s been a long time coming, so let’s get started, shall we?

To recap the Hyuuga Clan plotline, the whole thing starts when Neji and Hinata, previously introduced separately earlier in the Chuunin exam arc, face each other in the preliminaries.  It’s an unpleasant, vitriolic match: Neji brutalizes his cousin in the course of their fight, and comes damn close to killing her.  The only reason Hinata doesn’t die right then and there is due to the intervention of the Leaf jounin-instructors.  Fandom often attributes this to Naruto’s support, but I would argue that’s unfair to Hinata; in one of the few self-motivated acts she does, she tells Neji he’s wrong about her, about the world, and most importantly, himself—which enrages him to the point of going for a killing blow.  

Anyway, Neji is thoroughly unlikeable, and Naruto swears he’ll cut the other kid down to size during his match with other boy.  Blah blah blah, take a month-long break, time to fight.  As becomes usual for Naruto’s villain face-offs, they fight and Neji monologues: he explains why he’s so angry at Hinata (and the Main House) even though they’re family.  Essentially, the Branch house of the Hyuuga all have a seal on their forehead that destroys their eyes upon death, ensuring their valuable bloodline limit can't be stolen.  That actually sounds really cool except for one thing: it's also used as a method of brutal control by the Main House, who have the ability and knowledge to manipulate the seal's destructive capacity to inflict agonizing pain on those who bear it.  Moreover, Hinata and Neji aren't just people from the same clan—they're actually first cousins—and considering their respective fathers are identical twins, you could make a very strong case for them being closer to half-siblings than anything else.  

Neji is angry for two reasons, one abstract and one personal.  The abstract reason is this: Neji is a gifted prodigy in his clan's techniques, but because he's part of the Branch House, he's unable to get the training and, yes, recognition he deserves as a Gentle Fist prodigy.  Hinata is only average in the abilities the Hyuuga value—namely having advanced control over her bloodline and the combat skills to go with it—and if Neji's father had been born first instead of her own, their lives would be unimaginably different.  The personal reason is that ten years ago, Neji's father was sacrificed to appease some politically powerful bloodline thieves, who attempted to kidnap Hinata, presumably because she was young, had a good pedigree, and also had a womb.  Long story short, Naruto beats Neji up and tells him to "cheer up emo kid!".  The story doesn't end until Neji reaches some kind of catharsis with his uncle, Hinata's father, and decides he too will live free like a bird, blah blah blah.  Yay!  Story concluded, right?

Fandom didn't think so, and rightly so!  Konoha is revealed to have a large, politically powerful clan that is essentially enslaving a least half (and perhaps more) of their own population, and using it for unspeakable reasons.  Leaving aside Neji's sort of weaksauce resolution, Hinata, meek and unmartial, has a younger sister who is strong in all the ways she isn't; Just like with her father and his brother, will she have to brand her younger sister to maintain the right of absolute primogeniture?

And make no mistake, that is the real issue at the heart of the Hyuuga clan.  Everything else is just window dressing.  Even ignoring the stupidity of the Hyuuga sacrifice—Really, Sarutobi?  Really?! —the Hyuuga story always had more holes in it than good swiss cheese.  As I mentioned in my re-read summary post for volumes 11-13, the combination of "sealing most of the family" and also "preventing the sealed kin from learning the full extent of the Gentle Fist" only makes sense if the Hyuuga were alone in the wilderness, but in a village setting where the vast majority of sealed Hyuuga are supporting village operations, it sounds like a bad deal for the Leaf, since they're only getting half-trained soldiers in return for allowing the Hyuuga to live within their walls.  The entire purpose of Neji's story is just a clumsy way to highlight the injustice of absolute primogeniture as a method of both advancement, inheritance, and simple justice in traditional society.

I don't think it's an exaggeration that the "Clan Hyuuga eats its children" genre of stories was one of the more popular family-centered tropes in fanfiction in the pre-Shippuden era.  The sand sibs and Uchiha brothers might have had more written about them, but not by much.  How Hinata, Neji, and Naruto would grapple with the Hyuuga Clan's outdated social norms was the focus of a lot of stories and there was a lot of expectation about how Kishimoto was going to resolve this issue in part 2.  Now that Naruto has come to an end, we can all throw up a little in our mouths, because it's clear Kishimoto thought he already had.

Any of Hinata's character growth in part two comes from her relationship to Naruto; Neji dies sacrificing himself for her and Naruto, which seems damn empty given that we never see the cousins reconcile or really interact all that much. Hanabi is a non-entity.  The Hyuuga Clan, as of Chapter 700, is still presumably sealing and oppressing the majority of its members.  The only way to understand this extremely unsatisfactory turn of events is to see it as an intersection of two unpleasant trends in Naruto: women are always secondary to men in terms of character development and plot importance, and villainous motivations are tailor-made to whatever the hell sort of lesson Naruto is supposed to impart to them as the hero of this story.

Women, in Naruto, are almost always secondary to the men they are related and associated with.  Mito only shows up in context of her husband, never mind that she was apparently a master in her own right; like Sakura's relationship to Naruto and Sasuke, even the relationship between a man and his wife is secondary to the strong bond between her husband and Madara, his "best friend".  Kushina, again, was another cool character who could have been very interesting...except that she was immediately subordinated to her husband's plot, and then later her son's.  Kurenai's griefs and plots are centered around Asuma and Shikamaru; Sakura had the glimmerings of her own story, but it was always shoved aside for the Naruto and Sasuke thing.  Rin is probably the worst example; she literally only exists to traumatize Obito and Kakashi with her death.  Hinata is just another character in that tradition.

For the sake of argument, separate Hyuuga Hinata, clan heir from Hinata, Naruto's love interest.  Just pretend there are two girls with that given name in Naruto—actually, let's make it even easier. Hinata the girl is Naruto's love interest; Hinata the clan heir is a boy.  Hinata the boy isn't a bad person, but he's shy, meek, unassuming, and not very good at combat.  He is a constant disappointment to his father, who wanted a child much like Hinata's cousin, who is everything Hinata isn't: strong, capable, and ruthless.  In a different world, his cousin Neji would be clan heir—except their family practices absolute primogeniture as a method of inheritance.  Neji's father is younger than Hinata's father and was thus forced into the lesser branch family and blocked from ever inheriting.  Hinata has a younger brother, as well, who is also better than Hinata in all the ways that matter to their family, and one day, Hinata will have to brand his younger brother and cast him aside, all to uphold their tradition.  Hinata is despised by his cousin (and maybe his brother) because they both know they are better than him, but because of their family's stupid rules, they are forever subordinate to the lesser.  But Hinata has his own skills: in a family with eyes that see nearly everything, save for one specific blind spot, Hinata has the gift of seeing just what they lack.  Can Hinata find a way to prove that might does not make one right?  Can he show that it's not strength of arms that makes a good leader? Can he find a way to unite his broken family, and right the injustice they have perpetuated among themselves?

That's an interesting story, isn't it?  But Kishimoto wasn't really interested in writing a story about why absolute primogeniture is stupid; he wasn't interested in writing a story about what makes a good leader and how to grow up to be a just one, either.  Hyuuga Hinata, clan heir, was extraneous; that whole facet of her character could have been a separate one-shot character who just showed up in Neji's villain arc like so many others, given her importance as clan heir after this point.

Now that Naruto's over, it's obvious the whole horrible Hyuuga clan background was just another tragic villainous past for Naruto to defeat in a stupid fight.  It's infuriating because it's literally is a schoolyard fight—it's not exactly a demon trapped in a little boy, or the survivors of a brutal foreign war finding the only way to protect themselves is destroying everyone who opposes them.  Kishimoto didn't have to write a caged bird seal plotline; he didn't have to make the Hyuuga so brutal to their own kin. Neji didn't even need to try and murder his cousin, just beating the shit out of her would have been enough.  The whole thing could have been written as a simple family drama about the unfairness of absolute primogeniture, no seal needed, just the weight of "we've always done it this way".  Kishimoto wrote it for the explicit purpose of first making Neji horrible and cruel, then revealing, like all the rest of Naruto's villains, why he is deserving of pity for his "terrible" deeds.  

Ultimately, Kishimoto wrote the Hyuuga the way he did because he's almost incapable of writing a character who does bad things without having a sad past; and he's incapable of that because he's a lazy writer who doesn't want to go through the work of actually writing interesting characters.  The entire Hyuuga family plotline is the sort of manipulative asspull I hate in both professional and amateur writers, the sort of crutch a weakling uses to pass over another character’s flaws.  Hinata, in this story, only exists to show how fucked up Neji is because of her father's actions.  She certainly never gets any resolution to her father treating her poorly, or the fact that her cousin tried very hard to kill her in public view.  The central tension in the Hyuuga clan is between Neji and Hiashi, which is why the arc closes with Hiashi apologizing to Neji, and then Neji deciding to make his own way in life despite the seal, like his father did.

And Hinata, who is despised for weakness by her father; who is nearly killed for having the temerity to point out Neji's own blind spot; who is physically weak, but has the glimmers of a character stronger than both her cousin and father combined, if only Kishimoto had been interested?

Like Mito, and Kushina,  and Rin, and Kurenai, and Sakura, and Anko, and yes, Karin, and every other goddamn woman in this manga - like them, she's only a prop in someone else's story.  And in turn, that other person's story is just a prop for Naruto to defeat on his way to becoming a hero.  

[kuriquinn]

As much how I loved that Gaiden reassured me that Sasuke and Sakura's love is strong; the thing I hated was Kishi giving Sasuke that long of a mission.

Definitely agree. 

Gaiden was largely unnecessary, and Sasuke’s absence was just written to create pointless drama. I think Kishimoto’s problem is that he can’t write convincing happy, loving relationships. Or at least functional ones, at that.

If you look at the entire anime, there is no couple (with the exception of mostly off-screen couples like the Harunos) that has a regular marriage that isn’t doomed in some way. (Spoilers ahoy!)

Fugaku & Mikoto - killed by their son

Minato & Kushina - killed by the Nine Tails (and Obito)

Asuma & Kurenai - Asuma killed by Hidan, Kurenai left to raise child alone

Naruto & Hinata - fairy tale romance, he’s too busy to come home and actually take part in his family

Sasuke & Sakura - they get married, but he has to go off on a mission for who knows how many years

Izumi & Itachi - He kills her with a dream before massacring the rest of the clan

Konan & Yahiko - he kills himself to save her and his friend

Dan & Tsunade - he dies on a mission and she can’t save him

Neji & Tenten - Neji dies (okay, so that’s just my own personal headcanon, but even as simply a friendship pairing, they were doomed)

As for InoSai, ShikaTema and ChoKarui, we never really see much of them (although with ShikaTema I get the sense of a bullied husband and overbearing wife)

Kishimoto is incapable of writing a couple that are involved and then get married and have a happy, normal life (well, as normal as life in a relationship can be, anyway). 

And I get it - this is a shonen series and there doesn’t need to be an emphasis on that sort of thing. But the thing that draws people to Naruto isn’t just the prolonged action sequences and cool techniques, but it’s the story and the relationships between the characters. 

The whole series is based on the friendship of Naruto and Sasuke, on the bonds of Team 7, of the way people interact with each other (Kakashi and Gai’s ridiculous rivalry, Sasuke’s hate/love relationship with his brother, Sakura and Ino’s friendship/rivalry, the redemption from past deeds because of the loyalty of one’s friends, etc…). You’d think that a guy that is so good at portraying those kinds of bonds over the course of a fifteen year series would at least try to get better at depicting romantic relationships. 

I mean, I know the Japanese are typically reserved when it comes to these types of things, but they are not a culture without romance. Just flip through Japanese literature throughout the ages, and it’s there. So there’s no reason why Kishimoto couldn’t come up with a credible plot to show romance between the two other protagonists of his series that didn’t involve a soap-opera of drama. 

It’s one thing if you’re bad at writing these things and you try to improve. I am terrible at action scenes. I hate them, I feel like they’re stilted and too technical, but I still try to write them so that I can get better at them. But if I didn’t care, if I didn’t want to get better at them but needed to have them in my stories, I would collaborate with someone who could write action scenes very well. Because my fans at least deserve that.

But Kishimoto didn’t even try. He concocted the ridiculous plot of Gaiden as an attention grabber to create needless drama. If he had any respect for his fans (and I’m not just talking about the SasuSaku fans here, but the NaruHina ones as well), he would have collaborated with someone who actually knew how to write a good plot that included romance drama and action drama for Gaiden. 

I abhor lazy writing, and to me, Gaiden is the epitome of that.